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CARBON ELECTROCATALYSTS

Defects win over pyridinic sites

Understanding the nature of active sites in carbon electrocatalysis remains a subject of dispute and a great scientific challenge. Convincing new evidence supports the fact that, for oxygen reduction, defects present in carbon materials are more powerful catalytic sites than nitrogenated sites.

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Fig. 1: Pyridinic and pentagon active sites along with their ability to reduce oxygen.

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Correspondence to Magdalena Titirici.

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Titirici, M. Defects win over pyridinic sites. Nat Catal 2, 642–643 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0309-4

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